Actress Susan Sarandon was in full rant on Saturday as the
opening speaker at an anti-Bush/Iraq war rally organized by a bunch
or far-left and pro-communist groups, some of whose names, like the
Nicaragua Network, haven’t been heard since the 1980s.

Sarandon
equated al-Qaeda with U.S. businesses: “Let us find a way to resist
fundamentalism that leads to violence. Fundamentalism of all kinds,
in al-Qaeda and within our government. And what is our fundamentalism?
Cloaked in patriotism and our doctrine of spreading democracy throughout
the world, our fundamentalism is business.”

She
called the war a big distraction: “This is about business, the business
of distracting American attention from Enron and Haliburton, the financial
scandals that directly connect this administration to the heart of what
is now wrong with the American economy.”

http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20021029.asp#7

"We
stand a chance of getting a president who has probably killed more people
before he gets into office than any president in the history of the
United States."

"In
the US it is not a good time for anybody to feel strongly about things
that are not popular", Sarandon went on, "and if you are against
the death penalty it's like being against a war. Your loyalties to the
government are questioned if you are against it."

A raft of former Naderites have signed a petition urging voters who
might be tempted to vote for the independent presidential candidate
to support Democrat John F. Kerry. "We urge support for Kerry/Edwards
in all swing states, even while we strongly disagree with Kerry's policies
on Iraq and other issues," the petition said. "For people seeking progressive
social change in the United States, removing George W. Bush from office
should be the top priority in the 2004 presidential election." The more
than 70 signatories include actors Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon;
former talk show host Phil Donahue; academics Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn,
and Cornel West; and musicians Bonnie Raitt and Eddie Vedder. (Washington
Post)

Actor
Susan Sarandon, who gave one of the main speeches from the platform,
declared:

“Bush
says you’re either with us or against us. I don’t know who ‘us’ is.
I say to Mr. Bush—this is what democracy looks like. We will not give
our daughters and sons for a war for oil.”

Sarandon
called on those present to pressure the Democrats in Congress to oppose
Bush. “There are some people still functioning in the government,” said
Sarandon. “We must

support
them, particularly (West Virginia Democratic Senator) Robert Byrd.”
She gave the phone number of the Capitol Hill switchboard and urged
people to call those Senators “who look as though they might have the
courage” to oppose Bush.

Tens of thousands in US rally against war on Iraq

By a reporting team

7 October 2002

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/oct2002/demo-o07_prn.shtml

"The people of America do not want
a war on spec," actress and anti-war activist Susan Sarandon
said Friday on the eve of what could be one of the largest anti-war
protests ever.

The actress, who lives with her
family in Connecticut, told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith that
many Americans "do not want to risk their children or the children of
Iraq." Once we do this unprecedented thing of having a war on spec -
preemptive strike. I mean, it's against the whole, everything this country
is supposed to be about," she said. "So I'm terrified about what's going
to happen."

Appealing to President Bush and
members of Congress, the Academy Award winner said, "Get with it. Get
off your horse and let's get real about this."

"If it happens, it's going to be
expensive," Sarandon said. "There's going to be huge loss of life on
the part of the Iraqis. And there's ways to do it. Even the neighbors
don't see him as an imminent threat, and we shouldn't either."

At
the 1993 ceremony, presenters Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon
explained their red ribbons were in support of HIV-positive Haitians
barred from entering the United States. Ms. Sarandon called on U.S.
officials to "admit that HIV is not a